The volume of the Russian Internet economy in 2022 will increase by 24% in comparison with 2021 and will reach 11.8 trillion rubles, while the growth rate will decrease by almost half in comparison with previous years. This was announced by the General Director of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC) Sergey Grebennikov, who gave a report on the main political indicators of the Runet at the Russian Internet Week 2022.
"According to the preliminary forecasts of the Analytics Department of the RAEC, in 2022 the Internet economy of Russia will grow by 24% compared to 2021 and will reach the volume of 11.8 trillion rubles," he said.
In relation to the previous years, the growth rate will reduce almost in half, Grebennikov added. According to him, in 2020 the growth was 41% on an annual basis and in 2021 it was 42%.
The slowdown in growth rates in 2022, according to the data in the report, was associated with incomplete process of adaptation to new tools and solutions, the lack of competitive Russian analogues for a number of solutions, initiatives in the field of advertising regulation as well as the transition of consumers to the austerity policy.
The RAEC believes that in order to restore the growth rates of the Runet economy in the short time, it is necessary to ensure performance-based regulatory approach, primarily by minimizing the number of regulatory initiatives that have an ambiguous impact on the industry. It is also necessary to maintain support for the industry until the process of adaptation to new realities is fully completed, with an increased focus on the Internet advertising and digital content.
"At the same time, a full return to the "pre-crisis" growth rates is impossible until the period of turbulence and stabilization of the macroeconomic situation is over," the RAEC report says.
Online Advertising Volume
The volume of online advertising in Russia at the end of 2022 will decrease by 10% year-on-year to 390.7 billion rubles, and digital content will decrease by 25% to 115.6 billion rubles, according to the RAEC study on key analytical indicators of Runet, presented at Russian Internet Week 2022.
"The online advertising segment in 2022 will, for the first time, face a decrease in volume for the entire subsequent period. It is expected that at the end of the year the decline will make 10% of the volume of the year 2021 - down to 390.7 billion rubles," the study says.
The volume of the digital content segment by the end of 2022 will decrease almost to the pre-pandemic values - by 25%, to 115.6 billion rubles, the document specifies.
The infrastructure segment in 2022, according to the RAEC forecasts, will almost not lose the growth rates as compared to the previous year. The segment is expected to grow by 30%, and its volume will increase to 298.7 billion rubles.
The volume of the e-commerce segment in 2022, according to experts, will increase to almost 11 trillion rubles, while the growth rate will decrease to 10% year-on-year.
"Thus, as predicted in the spring, it was possible to maintain positive growth rates in 2022 due to the score of two segments. i.e. e-commerce and infrastructure, while the segments of online advertising and digital content will decline at the end of 2022," noted Sergey Grebennikov, CEO of RAEC, following the results of the study.
